Rolling-mill coupling-spindle.



H. R. GEER, ROLLING MILL COUPLING SPINDLE.

APPLICATION FILED NO V. 14, 1910. l ,QQJ, JTYQ Patented 0013.22, 1912.

(if lI IZVESSL'S, A

HARRY GEER, 0F JOHNSTDWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HARRY R. GEEK, a citizen of the- United States,residing in the city of Johnstown, in the county of Ca nbria and Stateof Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inRolling-Mill Coupling-Spindles; and I do hereby. declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the in vention, such aswill enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the same.

My invention relates to rolling mill apparatus and particularly to thecouplingspindles thereof which connect the driving shafts or customarypinions to the roll necks, for the purpose of rotating the rolls. Myinvention is particularly adapted for use in connection withmetal-rolling mills of the two-high, or three-high type, the rolls ofwhich require frequent adjustment in a vertical direction to accommodatethe different sizes of bars, blooms, plates or other products beingoperated upon, while maintaining at the same time operative rotativeconnection with the pinions or source of power.

Heretofore it has been generally customaryto drive a pair or a set ofthree pinions by driving one of the same through the connection ofone'of its necks with the continuously or reversely rotating shaft of asteam engine, or other motor, while the other ends or so-called necks ofthe pinions are provided with similar connections for driving the rollsas hereinafter described.

The ordinary old styles of pinion-necks and roll-necks are substantiallycylindrical in form, andthe outer portions of the same which projectfrom the bearings or housings are provided withthree or four flutes,each flute being a semi-circular or semi-oval longitudinal groove. Theold style coupling-boxes as at present used, are composed, generallyspeaking, of a cylindrical annulus provided on its interior surface withprojections of semi-circular or semioval cross section,

corresponding to the flutes in the necks of the pinions and rolls.

The ordinary old style spindle consists.

generally of a cylindrical shaft provided at each end with flutessimilar to those provided in the pinion-necks and rollnecks,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 14, 1910.

"ROLLING-MILL COUPLING-SPINDLE.

Patented Oct. 22, 1912. Serial No. 592,182.

of the pinions and rolls, this construction is very noisy in operation,and on account of the backlash in operation, is very destruc tive to theparts directly involved and to the other portions of the mechanismconnected therewith, by reason of the jarring and hammeringactionoccasioned by said loose connections. This is particularly true onwhatare known as two-high reversing mills where the backlash of a set ofold style spindles and couplings frequently amounts to one-third orone-half of a complete revolution of a rolling mill engine or motor. Inother words, when'reversing an engine or motor for the purpose ofoperating a mill, this frequently has to turn around through about onehundred and eighty degrees before the rolls begin to move and themomentum thus acspindles, coupling-boxes, fly wheels, and

other parts, causes very severe and destructive percussion on thespindles and conplings and also'jars the-other parts of the apparatuswith frequent disastrous results. This effect is repeated at very shortintervals of time as in two-high mills the reversal of their rotationismade after each pass.

As an example of this, it has been found by a set of spinexperience onsome mills that dles and coupling-boxes will only last a week, as, bythe end of that time, the fluted ends of the spindles and thecorresponding projections in the coupling-boxes are so worn as to beuseless, thereby necessitating their rejection and replacement by newones, which is therefore, a constant source of labor and expense,besides which, such spindles and coupling-boxes frequently break in use.,It is one of the principal objects of my invention to provide acoupling-spindle which will be tion, without backlash or excessiveclearance and my device is particularly applicapractically noiseless inopera- 55 numbers My invention consists essentially of a spin-' ,dle ofgeneral cylindrical form, provided at each end with projections whichare partially cylindrical in cross section and secured to, or integralwith the spindle, the axis of each projection being substantially atright angles to the main axis of the spindle in general; theseprojections therefore 'serving as pivots about which the spindle canoscillate in a certain plane.

In my invention the pinion-necks and rollnecks each have bifurcatedends, the two opposing Interior surfaces of which are -pro- 2o videdwith a so-called' slipper, or bearing piece of bronze or other material,substantially flat where it bears on the interior surface of thebifurcated end of the roll or pinion-neck, while the other side of saidslipper has a partial cylindrical surface to conform to thecorresponding pivotal end of the spindle, thereby forming a support andbearing for the same. passes through the roll or. pinion-neck andthe'eenters 'of said slippers, which latter are 'pro'videdwith largerholes to admit said olt, and to permit said slippers to slide sli' htlyon the interior flat surfaces of the bi rcated ends of the roll orpinion-necks 85 in order to give flexibility of joint in eitherdirection. This construction can be made to fit quite r curately,thereby reducing all lost motion and backlash, while atathe same timethe details are such that my improved spindle can drivea' roll eventhough the'angular positionv of'sa'id spindle may be varied y the movingof the roll.

My construction is cheaply made and per-- 'mits easy access forlubrication, inspection 46 and replacementof arts, if necessary. The

sliding movement of the slippers also allows for the greater effectivelength of the cou-.

pling required, owing to the angularity when the roll is lifted, as willbe readily understood.

Having thus given this general descriptionof my invention, I Wlll now,in order to make the matter more clear, refer to these companying sheetof drawings in which like :haracters indicate like and parts Figure l isa side elevation of a pair of pinions, a pair of two-high adjustablerolls, the driving conneztion between which con 0 sists of my improvedcouplingspindle; the

upper one of said spindles being what is generally known as thevibrating spindle,

the amplitude of its movement being as in- .dicated by dotted lines inthis figure. Fig.

5 2 is an enlarged top plan View of the spindle A large bolt,

shown in Fig. 1 showing the pinion and rollnecks in plan and thehousings in cross section. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectionalelevation of my improved spindlecoupling taken on the line III-III ofFig. l. Fig. 4 is-a-vert-ical;transverse sectional elevation taken onthe line IV-IV of Fig. Fig.5 is a plan view of one of my slippersshowing the cylindrical bearing faces thereof. Fig. 6 is a perspectiveview of the central cylindrical spacing-block 23 showing the holetherethrough to receive the bolt 18.

Referring now'to the various characters of referenceon the drawings 1represents'part of the bed-plates of a rolling-mill, 2 one of the pinionhousings thereof; 3- is one of the roll housings; 4' are the pinions,shown in this case for a two-high mill.

5 are the rolls of a two-high mill, the upper one of which is shown byfull lines in its lowered position, while the dotted lines above,indicate its higher position.-

6 are the bifurcatedends of my improved coupling, which are secured to,or form part of the pinion-necks, 7 are the journal portionsof thepinion-necks, S are the bifurcated ends of my improved.coupling whichare'attached to, or form part of the rollnecks, While 9 are the journalportions of the roll-necks. 3

l0 are'the grooves in the pinion ends of my improvedcoupling, whichgrooves form the bifurcation of the said coupling, while 11 are similargrooves in the roll coupling.

12 are slippers preferably made of brass or bronze, which fit and slide,to a'certain extent, within the grooves .10 and 11.

13 represents the bottom spindle of a twohigh rolling-mill, 14represents the top spindie in its lowered, position, while the upperosition of said top or vibrating spindle is indicated by the dottedlines in Fig. 1.

In order to make the illustrations com- ,plete for this particular styleof construcancing spring 28, although these particular" parts Noslli'),l6, and 24 to 28 bothlinclusive,

a 0 not form any essential feature of my invention.

Each" ofthe slippers 12 is provided with a hole 17 in the centerthereof, said hole being of greater diameter than the bolt" 18 whichp'assesitherethrough and which is secured within the bifurcated ends ofthe pini 0n and roll couplings, as shown. The bolts 18 are secured inthe bifurcated coupling extensions of the pinion androll-necks as shownand serve to hold the slippers 12 and central spacing-blocks23 inoperative position, and thereby couple the spindle to the rolls andpinions, while allowing the neces sary freedom to the moving parts ofthe construction.

19 represents-ahub or enlarged end of the spindles 13 and 14andprojecting from,

bore of the central portion of the slippers which it adjoins, therebyallowing the slippers to move backward or forward, as requit-ed, withoutbeing obstructed by said spacing-block. This centralspacing-block,

however, fits-between the two cylindrical ends 20 with its ends bearingagainst the same, and thereby assists in maintaining the spindle inposition as it revolves.

21 represents the concave cylindrica-lly curved bearings of the slipper12, said bearings 21 fitting on and conforming to the cylindricalsurfaces 20 of the pivot portionsof the spindles. 22 are the raisedcentral portions of the said slippers .pi'zsitioned between the pair ofprojecting pivotal ends 20 of the spindle, these projecting portions 22of the slippers having a concave cylindrical curvature on one side, of adiameter somewhat greater than that of the syncing-block 23 -asheretofore described. The exterior outer ends of the cylindricalportions 20 are beveled or cut away as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 52and, as shown by full lines and shading in Fig. l, the objcctuof thisbeing to allow the spindles to oscillate as required, withoutinterference with the coupling portions of the pinion and roll-nc'cl s.

in operation my improved coupling spindle has approximately tight, orworking fits,

.avlxcrc one part adjoins the. other, in-so-far as the ccrncd.

i reason 'of'the pivotal projecting ends 20 of my spindles, and thecorrcspomling slippers 12 thereof, which are slidably litled within thebifurcated ends of thepinion nd roll-neck pmjcctions, this permits thespindles to oscillate as desired in any direc-v tion. without looseningthe working contacts of the css vial parts. in one direction the spindleis maintaincd in position by the slipo'lzilc in the-other direction, itis maintransmission of rotative force is conruined by the contact of itspartially cylin-' drical pivotalcnds with the spacing-block through thebifurcated coupling ends of the and the bolt- 18 passing thcrctlnoughand' pinion and roll-necks. This therefore forms a jointed connection ofparticular and powerful construction, which has been proved by actualexperience to be very well adapted for the purpose intended. I

While my invention 'is shown and illustrated in connection with atwo-high rollin mill, it is equally applicable to a three-hig or otherstyle of rolling-mill, and in fact to any apparatus or machine in whichit is desired to transmit rotating motion, Where, from lack of rigidity,necessity for ai'itomatic adjustment, or' otherwise, an absolutely stiffcoupling should not be used.

I do not limit my invention to the precise details of constructionherein shown and described, as it is capable of considerable structuralvariation, and I may use such substitutions, modifications, equivalentsor alterations therein, as fall within the .scope of my invention andset forth in the claims.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Aspindle provided with a pair of partially cylindrical projections spacedapart and arranged transversely at the end thereof, a bifurcatedcoupling having a corresponding transverse groove of substantiallyrectangular cross section adapted to receive said projections; slippersfitting the cylindrical surfaces of said projections and adapted toallow the same to partially rotate thereon, the opposite sides of saidslippers being in sliding contact with the sides of the groove of thebifurcated coupling, a spacing-block located in the space between theinterior ends of said partially cylindrical projections adapted for fiatsliding contact therewith; and a bolt secured through-said bifurcatedends and passing through larger holes in said. slippers and through saidspacing block, whereby the aforesaid parts are maintained in operativeposition.

2; A spindle provided with a pair of cylindrical pivots spaced apart,arranged transverselyof, and' projecting from, the

end thereof, a bifurcated coupling having a corresponding transversegroove of substantially rectangularcross section adapted to receive saidpivots, slippers fitting the curved surfaces of said pivots, theopposite sides of said slippers beingin sliding contactwith the sides ofthe groove of the bifurcated coupling; a spacing block located in thespace between the ends of said pivots; and a bolt passing through saidbifurcated coupling and through larger holes in said slippers, andthrough a corresponding hole in said spacing block, thereby holding theparts in operative position.

3. A spindle provided with a projecting pivot arranged transversely atthe end thereof and provided with'a slot or space in'its intermediateportioina corresponding bifurcated coupling adapted to receive saidpivot,

bearings located within said bifurcation and holes in said bearingsandthrough a correadapted for rotative contact with said pivot spondinghole in said spacing block. 10

and for sliding contact With the interior sur- In testimony whereof Ihereto aflix my faces of sald bifurcation, a spacmg block signature 1nthe presence of two wlt-ncsses.

-" located Within the intermediate slot of the HARRY R. GEEK.

pivot adapted for fiat bearing against the Witnesses; surfaces thereof;and a bolt passing through ELMER SEAVEY, said bifurcated coupling,through larger l ROBERT A. BEER.

